Typography - Task 2: Typographic Exploration and Communication

21/10/24 - 4/11/24 / Week 5 - Week 7

Chuah Shu En / 0368157

Typography / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media

Task 2: Typographic Exploration and Communication

Table of Contents

1. Lectures
2. Instructions
3. Task
4. Feedback
5. Reflection
6. Further Reading

Lectures 

Week 5: Typo_5_Understanding

Some letterforms may look symmetrical but actually aren't which demonstrates the designer's care and expression.

Fig 1.1, Baskerville Uppercase Letterform (21/10/24)

Fig 1.2, Univers Uppercase Letterform (21/10/24)

The x-height generally describe the size of lowercase letterforms but Mr Vinod said to keep in mind of curved strokes in letters such as 's' must rise above the median or sink below the baseline to appear as the same size. 

Fig 1.3, X-height (21/10/24)

Developing a sensitivity to the counterform is also important. When letters are formed to join words, the counterform includes the space between the letters. 

Fig 1.4 Counterform (21/10/24)

Contrast produces variation.

Instructions

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Task

Sketches:

For this task we had to create a 2-page editorial spread in Adobe InDesign, using type formatting. There was a variety of text content we could choose from that was provided by Mr Vinod in Microsoft Teams. I chose the text "Unite to visualise a better world".

Fig 1.5, Sketches (23/10/24)

Digitization:

After picking the sketch I liked the most, I went to Adobe Illustrator to start digitizing the title and to Adobe InDesign to create the entire spread with the text content. I followed the video tutorials given by Mr Vinod. 

Fig 1.6, Using Adobe Illustrator (23/10/24)

I used Adobe Illustrator to design the left part of the spread and then imported it into InDesign.

Fig 1.7, Text Formatting Process (23/10/24)

After importing the design, I proceeded with formatting the body text, making sure to keep cross alignment in mind and finding places where I should kern the text. 

Final:

I was short on time so it it didn't turn out as well as I would've liked it to be.

Fig 1.8, Final without Grids (4/11/24)

Fig 1.9, Final with Grids (4/11/24)

Fig 2.0, Final PDF (4/11/24)

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Feedback

Week 7

Specific Feedback: Noticed there were a lot of rivers and orphans in my text formatting.

Reflection

Experience: Going through this assignment, I was unfamiliar with Adobe InDesign and struggled a lot with the leading spacing while doing text formatting. Other than that, ideating the title was tough as I didn't really know what I wanted to communicate. I also had limited time to do this project as I was busy with other commitments as well and to reach the deadline I compromised certain things. 

Observations: I observed that a lot of letterforms that I thought were symmetrical were actually asymmetrical, which demonstrated a lot of thought put into it.

Findings: The detail and thought put into designing the letterforms for different fonts was so deep and the process was so meticulous. I've come to appreciate the text formatting and cover designs in magazines.

Further Reading

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